Colgate Women’s Hoops Takes Home First-Ever Victory over Buffalo

Nov. 25, 2003

Contact: Amanda Brickell

Hamilton, NY — The Colgate women’s basketball team took home its first-ever win over Buffalo with a 69-65 victory on Tuesday night.  The Bulls led the overall series 8-0 before the Raiders ended Buffalo’s unbeaten streak.  The Raiders 3-0 start on the season is the best ever recorded by a women’s hoops team in the program’s thirty year history.

Colgate took control of the first half with an eleven point scoring run thanks to seven points from senior Malissa Burke (Traverse City, Mich.).  Buffalo ended the drought on a lay-up by Brooke Meunier five minutes into the game, but solid three-point shooting from Allison Lipinski (Garfield Heights,Ohio) would help the Raiders maintain the edge and stretch their lead to 18 by the 10:00 mark.

The Bulls capitalized at the free throw line going 6-6 in the final three minutes of the half.  A jumper by Jessica Korchendorfer with 14 seconds left in the first would close the gap to three and send Colgate to the locker room up 34-31 at the break.

Buffalo was 8-25 from the field in the first half, but turned in an impressive 14-16 performance at the free-throw line.   The Bulls struggled to maintain possession of the ball early, committing 13 turnovers to Colgate’s six.  They did, however, outrebound the Raiders 23-19.  Colgate was 11-31 from the field and 7-12 at the charity stripe.

The Raiders maintained a tenuous lead in the early minutes of the second half and stretched the margin to eight on a three-pointer by Lipinski.  Buffalo‘s Korchendorfer answered with three jumpers in less than a minute to knot the score at 45-45 with 14:34 left to play.

The Bulls took the lead for the first time on a lay-up by Kelly Calderone with 13:05 left in the game.  Buffalo would stretch its lead to five before freshman Molly Patterson (Euclid, Ohio) changed the momentum of the game with a shot from behind the arc to bring the Raiders within one.

The Raiders went ahead with four minutes left to play on a three-pointer from Burke and would stretch Colgate’s lead to seven in just under one minute.  A lay-up by Brooke Meunier would bring Buffalo within one, but junior Emily Braseth (E. Grand Rapids, Mich.) sank two from the free-throw line to give the Raiders a three point edge before Chigozie Ozor (Ann Arbor, Mich.) sealed the 69-65 victory with a foul shot.

Lipinski had a team-high 20 points and was 7-14 from the field.  Burke scored 14 points and dished four assists in the victory.  Patterson added five assists and nine points while shooting 3-6 from the field.  Junior Leandra Fuller (Harrisburg, Pa.) had a team-high seven rebounds and was 4-5 from the free-throw line.

The Bulls were led by Korchendorfer with 20 points and 12 rebounds.  Meunier had a career-high 23 points and nine rebounds in the loss.

Colgate moves to 3-0 on the season and will hit the court again on Nov. 30 at Vermont.  The game is set to start at 1 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vt.